Walt Disney World in 2019 going to be an extremely busy but super fun year! Jam packed with transportation improvements, theme park renovations and new resort additions; here are just 5 things that are bound to get you a tad excited for those arriving at Walt Disney World in 2019.

Hollywood Studios

Star Wars; Galaxy Edge

Fall 2019

The biggest addition for 2019 will be what Disney have been working on for probably the longest time out of everything in this blog post. Star Wars; Galaxy Edge will be opening during Fall 2019. There is no exact date but it will be an addition very much welcomed at Disney Hollywood Studios which has seen noticeably less crowds that the other 4 theme parks in the last few years.

photo credit: blogmickey.com

With Toy Story Land that opened in June and it is already bringing the crowds back but the opening of Star Wars will send them flooding back I’m sure.

The Incredibles meet and greet

January 2019

Apart from at special events and when they are in attendance at their own dance party in Tomorrowland; The Incredibles aren’t usually a family you can walk up to meet and greet. They used to be located within what is now the Star Wars Launch bay but from January you will find them in Pixar Place …. along with Edna too!

Transportation

Skyliner gondolas

Fall 2019

This is another big addition to Walt Disney World for Fall 2019. The Skyliner gondolas are going to connect resorts to theme parks and although last week they announced that they aren’t going to have air conditioning, they are going to be so cool to travel in.

Lightning McQueen racing academy

Spring 2019

Since losing the Lights! Camera! Action! stunt show to the new Star Wars: Guardian of the Galaxy, Lightning McQueen hasn’t really been seen in ‘action’. Apart from a garage style meet and greet not far from MuppetVision 3D and obviously Cars Land itself 2,500 miles away in Disneyland; he’s very much a character that is missed I think in Walt Disney World.

Spring 2019 sees the all-new show-attraction, said to be located in Sunset Showcase near Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, demonstrating McQueens racing techniques on a new simulator and share career highlights with his guests.

Disney Springs

NBA experience at Disney Springs

Summer 2019

Since July 2017 Disney have been working on demolishing (pretty much!) and rebuilding the former Disney Quest building that is located opposite House of Blues and the former La Nouba site.

Picture credit: blogmickey.com

NBA City used to in fact be located at Universal City Walk. Located where the now Toothsome Chocolate Factory is; Disney is now the home to The NBA experience (or will be next year!)

Resorts

DVC resort Riviera resort

Fall 2019

A new DVC resort located opposite the Caribbean Beach Resort will be Disney’s 15th DVC property. It will also be a resort that is connected to Epcot and Hollywood Studios via the new Gondola system.

Are you heading to Walt Disney World during 2019? What are you most excited about?

Although we have always gone to Walt Disney World for 14 days or more not everyone can afford to do so (or maybe want to!) and although two week does allow you to get the most from your money as far as park tickets are concerned and allows you also to take it in at a more relaxing pace there’s no getting away from the fact it IS more expensive than just going for a week. But is it actually possible to do Walt Disney World in 7 days? Yes… yes it is and here’s how!

How to do Walt Disney World in 7 days

Stay on property

In order to make the most from your short stay staying on Disney property is a MUST! You cannot get any closer to Walt Disney World as a whole than staying on site.

Arrive at the parks at opening & expect to stay all day

With limited time you will struggle to see EVERYTHING if you are planning to just do a morning at Magic Kingdom and head back to the resort in the afternoon, you are not going to see everything…. it’s never going to happen. Ideally you need to be there at opening and stay until closing.

Swim days = rest days

By all means hang around the pool for a slow relaxing day but ensure you consider the water parks to see more of Disney but also get a bit of down time. It’s quite far from a theme park environment but somewhere to have tons of fun and certainly somewhere you can chill out too that is for sure.

FastPass

100% you MUST utilise your Fastpasses otherwise you will be queuing for far longer than you want to be especially if you have only a week there.

Make dining reservations

Again another reason to avoid hanging around or being disappointed. In the run up to your trip take a look at the restaurants and work out where you would like to eat in each park. The last thing you want to do with limited time is to hang around outside of a restaurant debating where everyone wants to eat. If you know beforehand then everyone knows!

If it’s somewhere that offers table service book a reservation as soon as you can. Quick service dining areas can accommodate for walk ups but it’s unlikely that you will get a walk up reservation at a table service restaurant… but if you do then chances are you will have to hang around for a table that is for sure.

Hire a car

Although this would come as an extra cost and there is complimentary Disney transport available in order to be as flexible as you possibly can be in such a short period of time if you could afford to hire a car then hire a car. The negatives of this however is not only the cost of the vehicle itself but also parking fees which do soon add up but particularly if you have small children it will be easier to have your own car then have to fold down pushchairs and carry sleeping babies on buses. Only you can make the decision on the bus/car debate and what works best for you and your family.

Child swap / single riders

Don’t feel like you have to miss out on rides if someone else doesn’t want to ride or your children aren’t yet tall enough.

Child swap allows the second rider to use the fast pass line to get to the front of the queue whilst another adult who has just ridden stays with the non rider. You can chose to only get one fast pass too when it comes to childswap so you have use of another elsewhere which will help massively.

A brief explanation of the best use of a child swap;

2 adults, 2 children (1 tall enough to ride 1 a baby in a pushchair)

1st adult and child rider gets a fast pass. As they enter the fast pass queue they request a child swap. The 2nd adult and non riding baby will need to be present too.

The 1st adult and child rider will ride the ride and exit/return to the 2nd adult with the child swap ticket. The 2nd adult and child rider (the child get 2 rides; 1 with each parent) then redeems the child swap ticket with the cast member on the fast pass line and walks straight to the front of the line via the fast pass queue (all being well!)

We’ve utilised the child swap ticket (that has a use by date on it) later on in the day numerous times… the child may not want to ride immediately after or you might want to just save it and give them a break to do something else. As long as it’s used before the expiry date then it is good to go at any point during your trip.

NB they tend to expire at the end of the month… it’s likely if you visit on the 30 November it will expire that evening.I really hope this post helps in providing you with enough information to show that is IS possible to do Walt Disney World in just 7 days.

I’d love if you too have any Disney hints or tips to share with readers of this blog; to drop a comment down below… there are only 7 tips here and so many more so you cannot possibly have too many! Have you ever done Walt Disney World in 7 days?

One of the best Christmases we’ve ever had when 10 years ago when we spent it in New York City. This was pre kids though and although we’ve wanted to head back to New York every year since we never have…. until 2019! Nope … no Disney World next year (wow shock horror!) but we are very much planning a trip back to the Big Apple! We have been looking at things to do in New York with kids and what’s actually realistic with small children in tow. I doubt they’ll want to just walk around taking in the scenery so we are looking at trying to visit notable areas that we’ve all seen in films so I’ve been researching must see Home Alone film locations and fun things for kids in New York City.

Things to do in NYC with kids

I very much doubt whilst the children are small and we have Santa who pays us a visit on the 25th, that we will ever stay again over Christmas Day however we are just as excited to spend a few days in New York in the run up to Christmas at least. PLUS the majority of these activities are FREE too so win win!

We really want to do the ice rink on Central Park … not sure if it will happen and we might end up being exactly like Harry and Marv but I’m sure the rink will have something that will help them both on the ice!

We walked the Brooklyn Bridge (the bridge Kevin arrived in the city via) on Christmas morning the last time we were there; and it’s free so right up my street!!

Obviously we can’t reenact the World Trade Center scene where Kevin was filmed alone at the very top looking over the whole city but we will certainly be paying our respects and will head up to both the Rockefeller Center and the Empire State which to the children will be similar.

The Plaza Hotel will be top on the list too… we probably won’t go in because I want them to keep their movie imagination going for as long as we can and I know from heading it before that it’s nothing like the film so don’t want to confuse them.

Central Park is somewhere I want to walk through again for sure. I want to find the bridge where the Home Alone bird lady was for most of the film and the terrace where the fountain is.

There is obviously Times Square too, which I don’t recall features a massive amount through the movie, and also the Rockerfeller Christmas tree is where Kevin is reunited with his mum.

If you have any hints or tips on trips to New York City with kids then feel free to share! It will be the closest I think we will get to for a fair few years to a New York Home Alone Christmas.

Other film locations that I will using to create our ‘must see’s’ include Friends and Elf. I will be sure to share with you another time as to what we’ve decided to add to our list of things that can be found in Elf… and no it doesn’t include getting run over by a yellow cab don’t worry! 🙂

Longtime readers will know how much we love Walt Disney World and the main man that is Mickey Mouse. Well did you know today is Mickey’s official 90th birthday? It’s only fitting that today I share with you 7 fun facts you probably didn’t know about Mickey Mouse.

“Mortimer Mouse” had been Disney’s original name for the character now known as Mickey before Walt Disney’s wife, Lillian, convinced him to change it.

Mickey Mouse made his debut on November 18, 1928 in Steamboat Willie (I can hear you whistling the tune now!)

Mickey and Minnie are actually married (in real life!). The voice of Mickey from 1977 married the voice of Minnie in 1991!

He only has 4 fingers (honest go check!)

The first thing Mickey Mouse ever said was “Hot Dogs!” in 1929.

Mickey Mouse was voiced by Walt Disney himself until 1947.

Pluto is Mickeys dog!

Walts wife Lillian came up with the name of Mickey Mouse.

Mickey Mouse got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on his 50th birthday AND was the first cartoon character to have a star!

So there you have it… in celebration of Mickeys 90th birthday I share with you 10 fun facts you probably didn’t know about Mickey Mouse.

Another first visit to this restaurant on our last trip. I had been looking forward to dining here for approx 180 days(!) and it didn’t disappoint. Keep reading for my Liberty Tree Tavern dinner review and why I think it would make the best Christmas or thanksgiving Disney dinner!

Liberty Tree Tavern is located in the middle of the Magic Kingdom Park so you do need an admission ticket to dine there. It’s also very popular particularly around thanksgiving and Christmas so do book early… don’t be disappointed or say I didn’t warn you if you walk up and be turned away because they are full!

The theme of the restaurant is a stately colonial-style inn serving traditional New England-inspired fare and offers my favourite buffet style of dining; a lazy buffet (as I call it!). Before you are called up to your table you can make yourself comfortable in the foyer (or porch!) of the inn and play a few games. Apparently there are different named rooms all with slightly different themes; I wish now I had looked around a little more but I didn’t actually know this at the time.

It’s an all you can eat buffet but they bring it to you. If you want more of something specific ask for it, if you don’t want more of something tell them; it’s the best style dining experience with children in tow. It avoids people leaving the table or walking around with plates and allows you all to eat together instead of having to go off to get your food yourself.

The food is a thanksgiving/Christmas style cuisine. It was soooo good! I was so full when we left but it reminded me of home and I ate soooo much! It included a platter of roasted turkey breast, pot roast and oven-roasted pork alongside mashed potatoes, seasonal vegetables, herb stuffing and macaroni and cheese. If you want more of less of anything just ask your waiter will be more than happy to cater for you. Lunch offers the same but also other standards such as burgers, shrimp, pasta or your own pot roast with veggies and mash.

The turkey was amazing, the stuffing was amazing, the creamy mash and the turkey stuffing…. absolutely delicious! If there was somewhere I had to choose to eat Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner at then it would 100% be here.

Then came the dessert… oh my days! I don’t even think it needs words just look at the picture!

Although we were on the dining plan it would’ve cost us $136+tip (April/May). A bargain if you ask me for 4 all you can eat buffet full of delicious food!

We will 100% be back to Liberty Tree Tavern… just don’t expect to be able to walk around the the park afterwards. I was waddling… seriously go check the vlog!!

If you found this post beneficial or feel it might be something someone else would like to read too then feel free to click that share button down below!

It’s a month before we take our annual trip to Center Parcs Winter Wonderland. The group chats with friends we are going with have started and I’ve started to make a list. Here are our top 5 things to pack for Center Parcs in the winter.

Food

We always plan our meals before we go. I hate deciding what meals to have at home every night so I refuse to wait until we get there to work out what we want to eat. Meal planning is a must not only ease and the fact it saves you money but also saves you space in your boot! We tend to prepare a meal before we go for the Monday night so we don’t have to mess about when we get there. We take a frozen pizza for another evening meal, hot dogs, crumpets, eggs, bread and beans for lunches and cereal for breakfast.

Clothes

Layers are the key for us; it can be freezing outside but when you go inside to activties you soon warm up. Same goes for when the kids head off to play on a climbing frame; by layering up they can take their top layer off and still keep warm whilst running around.

Wellies

Wellies should be at the top of the list for everyone! If it’s not raining it will be damp and the kids are bound to want to run through the leaves!

Logs for the fire

Logs from the Parc Market in Center Parcs are expensive. We always get ours from Asda before we go and light one overnight.

DVDs (& popcorn!)

Upon returning from an evening swim lighting the fire, sticking on a film and eating popcorn in our PJs is one of our favourite things to do! A great way to end each day!

Feel free to share with anyone planning a trip to Center Parcs and you may feel this would benefit and if you have any items that you pack for Center Parcs in the winter that we haven’t mentioned do let us know in the comments down below!

As part of our ‘Disney-moon‘ and before departing on our first ever Disney Cruise we decided to splash out and book a deluxe hotel (or two!) for a couple of nights during the third week of our Orlando stay. We chose both Bay Lake Towers at the Contemporary and a savannah room at Animal Kingdom Lodge. So I’m here to share with you today our Animal Kingdom villas Jambo House review.

It was day 15 of our three week stay; the rest of our party were leaving that day so we packed up with them, took our bags to Animal Kingdom Lodge super early and headed on into a park.

At the resort the bell man welcomed the bags and said they’d hold them until check in. At that stage our room hadn’t been allocated yet so they told us to drop by when we came back from the park and they’d bring the bags up.

Unless we were to ever resort hop again it’s unlikely we would ever have to experience using bell services as we usually land in the afternoon and head straight to our room so this was very new to us and really weird to check in so early!

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We arrived and asked the bell man to bring our bags up before making our way up to the room. After a bit of a delay (which wasn’t ideal to be fair as we had another hire car to go collect!) we got our bags, went for our car and headed back to the resort to check out more of our room (5310).

We had already looked around the resort on a previous trip which is why we booked it because it’s so beautiful but looking around as a non guest is not the same as being a guest!

We were little bit in awe of the room. The view was amazing, the decor of the room beautiful… we had never stayed in something so posh as you can probably tell from the vlog at the very end of this post!!

The room

The room itself was a studio. It had a small kitchenette and a balcony (both of which was amazing particularly if you have children). If you have the opportunity to stay in a room with a balcony; that extra space where you can just step out side and grab some fresh air is a god send as we found also when we stayed at Old Key West. It had a small refrigerator and a microwave which helped massively with my baby particularly with regards to bottles and keeping milk cool.

It was a lovely size too as you will have seen in the vlogs. The settee came out as another bed, my youngest was in a ‘pack and play’ which is what us Brits call a travel cot and there was really ample space.

The other thing which was pretty awesome was that we had a savannah view… we overlooked grazing zebra, giraffes and gazelles roaming free.

It was quite late when we got back that first night but we were super hungry so Hubby nipped downstairs and brought back a kind of DIY room service?! He went down to The Mara, a quick service restaurant located not far from the pool area, and brought some food back to the room. Nothing special and probably didn’t help the fact that hubby had trekked the Sahara (slight exhaduration there!) to bring it back to the room.

We didn’t dine at any of the restaurants on property but that’s because they weren’t really our cup of tea. They are extremely popular and apparently delicious. If we weren’t such a picky family we would’ve gone 100%!

It’s the only thing I didn’t like about the resort it’s very big. It was quite a walk from the room to the pool, or the restaurants. From experience a lot of the pools at Disney resorts require a walk. The only one we’ve stayed in so far that doesn’t was Bay Lake Towers where we literally took the elevator down to the ground floor and walked out the back.

We did obviously check out the pool; I mean we had to it was massive!! It was our first experience of a Disney pool and it didn’t disappoint. The slide was small enough for my then 4 year old and the size of the pool meant although the resort is really big you wouldn’t have thought it with the amount of people in the pool.

Would we go back to Animal Kingdom Lodge?

This is a tough one because it’s a beautiful resort and usually comes out as the cheapest deluxe resorts in quote but I don’t think we would rush back.

We wouldn’t ever eat in the onsite restaurants, the walk from our room to our car in the car park is quite a hike and for us it’s just that little bit far out.

It’s located near the Animal Kingdom Theme Park which is the furthest park in to Walt Disney World so you do find yourself passing everything before you get there. For us it’s just that tiny bit too far out and we know now having stayed at Old Key West that we’d much prefer the be located more centrally.

The only downside though is the location and that it’s a little bit too big I feel. But it’s an absolutely beautiful resort in the most amazing setting.

If you found this post beneficial then feel free to share or if you’ve stayed here before drop me a comment with your views of the hotel too.

Below are a few vlogs from our check in day and pool day too should you want to have a watch!

Hyatt Regency is the hotel that is based at the centre of Orlando International Airport. To us and so many it’s the point of no return… you’ve arrived in Orlando! Unless of course you’re leaving but if you are why not consider on your last day booking a day room at the hotel? It keeps that Florida feeling going just a little longer and you’re on the doorstep of your plane home! We did just that on one of our previous trips and it was such a fab end to the holiday! Keep reading for our post cruise day room review of Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport.

We docked from our last Disney Cruise at Port Canaveral around 7am in the morning. We knew it wasn’t ideal with small children not really having a base or anywhere to go until our flight at 6:30 that evening so we decided to book a day room at the Hyatt.

You must give them a call to book the day room – there is no option on their website at the time of typing to book it online unfortunately and you’ll be looking around the $90-100 mark for the day. It’s not cheap but one affordable luxury especially with children.

The room was a standard room that overlooked the centre of the airport. There were rooms that overlooked the runway but I can’t see these being the ones that they use as a day room.

Our room just had a king bed if I remember rightly which again was fine for us. A simple but clean, modern room with a large bathroom (why I took no pictures I’ll never know but just trust me on this one!). I felt a little mean just sitting on the bed as we were only there for a couple of hours! I didn’t want them to think we had slept in it and had to remake the bed etc so we just people watched from the balcony that overlooked the airport atrium.

I don’t feel we can really comment on the noise levels unfortunately as we didn’t even attempt to sleep to be fair but once the doors were shut on the balcony you could just hear sound. Nothing really loud; it was just noise. You are in the middle of a ridiculously busy airport so it’s not going to be silent! I would be able to sleep no problem but if you are a light sleeper ask which they think would be quieter. Again not sure what it would be like at the other side of the hotel that overlooked the runways as it was not only the aircraft you could here but also the wind! They may all be the same and during the day is bound to be busier than on a night so it might be absolutely fine!

One thing I wish we had prepared for was the pool area! It overlooked the runways and looked amazing! There was a hot tub as well and because chances are everyone will be paying a flying visit at all different times of the day it wasn’t busy at all.

There are two restaurants within the hotel however there are TONS more eateries within easy access within the airport food court itself.

The only disappointing thing we found with the hotel was the parking. There was NOT enough parking. I’m not sure if it was just hotel guests that could park in there or it was a short stay car park but we felt we were driving around FOREVER!

We decided to head to the Florida Mall too for lunch and encountered a few issues leaving/returning. Something to do with ticket we had been given (or not given!) by reception. Just make sure you let them know on check in you may be leaving (even if you don’t) and you won’t end up stuck at the gates to exit the car park trying to explain to an attendant that you have paid and are staying in the hotel (but have nothing to show for it!).

One thing we all loved about this hotel was the views. It was a little depressing seeing the arrival of the Disney Magical Express coming to pick guests up who have just arrived but wherever you looked (apart from down!) was jaw dropping. This, I think(!), is the same location the Disney Cruise Line bus would pick up too.

This picture gives you a good idea of location of the hotel too – you are literally above everything you walk through in the airport. The two ‘train tracks’ (tram lines!) to the left and right are the monorail style trains that take you to and from your aircraft. You can see what was probably our Virgin plane to the right of the picture too.

We LOVED the Hyatt Regency room – it wasn’t cheap as I mentioned but something that made travelling with children soooo much easier and there’s no need to use shuttles to and from other hotels with bags and kids in tow because you are already just steps away from your plane!

So if you are arriving late or leaving late seriously consider the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport … you won’t regret it!

If you got value out of this or feel it would be something a friend would love to read too then feel free to share!

‘Ohana is located on Disney property within the Magic Kingdom resort area that we have been to numerous times. We are drawn to it for numerous reasons and although on our most recent trip we didn’t have the best experience at dinner; breakfast has never disappointed. Here are my top 5 reasons to visit Ohana restaurant on your next trip to Walt Disney World.

It’s not located in a park so if you have no intentions of visiting the theme parks but you want a character breakfast then this is one of many places to find just that! It’s free to park too just tell the guard on the gate you have a reservation and they will let you in. The fact that it’s NOT in a park and anyone can dine there I cannot recommend making a reservation enough… it’s EXTREMELY unlikely you will get a walk up reservation or if you do you will have to wait a while!

Breakfast at ‘Ohana is the best place to guarantee a meet and greet with Lilo and Stitch. If you’re going to come across them anywhere else then it’s likely to be Animal Kingdom but it might just be by chance that they pop up or walk straight past you. My daughter loved dressing up as Moana given it’s Polynesian themed dining but there were many children dressed up as Lilo too which was cute!

It’s an ‘all-you-can-eat come-to-your-table’ style buffet. If you are dining with children then it’s the one of the best style buffets you can get on property! It just means instead of having to go up and sort your kids food out before your own or having to leave the kids at the table while you get yours; they bring everything to your table. AND you can ask for someone specific if you don’t want certain things. We just wanted more potatoes, sausages and bacon last time so our server brought exactly that.

You have an amazing view of the Seven Seas Lagoon and the Magic Kingdom castle. We have eaten at ‘Ohana in the evening too! If you time it right and get a decent table you can watch the fireworks whilst eating your dinner. They can’t guarantee you will get a good view but the atmosphere is lovely in an evening with live music and interactive games for the kids. There are NO character interactions in the evening though.

Stitch waffles!!! You will not get Stitch waffles anywhere else and again you can ask for more!!

Things to note:

1 table service credit is required from your Disney Dining Plan (& tips are not included!)

Ask which alcoholic beverages are included for free (1 per adult) in your Dining Plan – there will be a menu there but not all will be included.

Breakfast is served from 7.00am ’til 12 noon

If you got value out of this feel free to share with your friends! Have you been to ‘Ohana before? What did you think? Drop me a comment down below (& don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel if you like what you see!)

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About

Are you looking for hints and tips to stretch the family budget or do you just want to ensure you’re getting the best for your buck at all times?

Then this mummy saving expert is here for you!

I’m Kirsty. A mother of two (three if you include the hubby!). I created this blog back in 2016 as a way to make myself accountable for the savings I had to make myself to my day to life after reducing my hours at work. Childcare costs meant I was pretty much working for nothing!

My aim is to help you live the good life for less. To do that I not only confidently share with my readers tried and tested ways to make, save and spend your money wisely; but I also write about a range of other parenting topics including my mental health battles as a working mum because you needn’t pay a fortune to look after yourself either!